Scottish Executive

Adult Literacy

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it aims to improve literacy among adults.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Funding of £22.5 million over three years from April 2001 will enable at least 80,000 people to be helped. £18.5 million of this is being allocated through local authorities to Community Learning Strategy Partnerships where all providers can access the funding.

  A new national development unit on literacy and numeracy is being established within Communities Scotland and a national training programme for tutors is already under development. On 16 April, I announced the launch of four pathfinder projects, three of which provide the first national support for raising awareness of the issue within the workplace. I also announced the development of a national curriculum for adult learners.

Air Transport

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish air transport consultation will be published.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish air transport consultation document will be published in the summer. It is intended that its publication will be co-ordinated with the launch of other UK regional consultation documents.

Ambulance Service

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the removal of acute services from Stracathro Hospital has had on the ambulance service provision for patients in Angus.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Tayside NHS Board and the Scottish Ambulance Service agreed that for modern, safe and responsive patient services to be sustained in Angus then investment in additional emergency ambulance service resources was required. That investment has been and is continuing to be made into the area.

Boundaries

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how the proposed boundary revision at Braehead will impact on job opportunities in the area.

Mr Andy Kerr: The proposed boundary change at Braehead will have no direct effect on job opportunities in the area.

Education

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the introduction of school classroom assistants has led to any identifiable improvement in the quality of children’s education.

Nicol Stephen: Yes, their introduction has led to an identifiable improvement in children’s education. In January 2000, the Scottish Executive commissioned the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) to evaluate the classroom assistants initiative. Its interim findings, published on 3 September 2001, indicated that the supporting role assistants play in the classroom will indirectly improve the quality of children’s education by allowing teachers to concentrate on individual and group teaching and lesson preparation. Apart from allowing children to benefit from improved teaching, they can also have a positive effect on pupil learning experiences by keeping pupils on task, encouraging good working practices and providing support for children with particular learning difficulties. I expect to receive SCRE’s final report shortly.

Employment

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what training and job search assistance will be given to rail workers whose jobs are in jeopardy following the decision by Consignia plc to rationalise its transport operations and restructure its parcels operations.

Lewis Macdonald: I understand that no decision has been taken on this matter by Consignia, and there is no indication of whether redundancies of rail workers might result. In the event of such redundancies, the local enterprise network and other relevant organisations would be able to assist those made redundant with appropriate training.

Enterprise

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any discussions have been held recently with senior executives at Compaq concerning the retention of production and employment at its plant in Erskine.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Officials are in regular contact with senior management at Compaq, both at local and corporate level, to discuss operations at the plant in Erskine. I have recently visited the facility at Erskine and in the US met with senior management of Hewlett-Packard to confirm the Executive’s willingness to work with the new company, should the new merger go ahead.

Female Offenders

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been regarding time out centres and other alternatives to custody for women offenders.

Dr Richard Simpson: A draft specification for the Time Out project is currently being drawn up. This work is near completion and will be followed by a formal tendering exercise.

  Work is also under way on progressing the other conclusions in respect of alternatives to custody for women offenders set out in the ministerial report A Better Way.

Finance

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional costs Grampian region will incur as a result of the recent UK budget.

Mr Andy Kerr: The recent UK budget is good news for Scotland and good news for Grampian. As the First Minister set out in his statement on 18 April, the budget will benefit business, the health service, older people, children, families and people in and out of work. The detailed impact on Grampian or any other region will depend on the individual circumstances of the businesses and households in that region. To assess this precisely would require detailed economic analysis - but for every region we would expect the benefits to significantly outweigh the costs. It is our responsibility to make sure we make the most of the opportunities the budget offers.

Hospital-Acquired Infection

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many bed days were taken up by the treatment of hospital-acquired infections in 2001-02.

Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not held centrally.

Justice

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its current plans are on the establishment of neighbourhood warden schemes.

Dr Richard Simpson: We have no plans for community support officers with police powers to undertake neighbourhood patrols. However, the Executive has provided funding under the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund for a pilot to explore the use of neighbourhood wardens in part of Paisley. The role of these wardens, who will be employed by Renfrewshire Council and work closely with Strathclyde Police, will be to observe and report incidents with the aim of reducing vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Justice

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to improve the efficiency of administration within the court system.

Mr Jim Wallace: Two formal reviews are in progress. Lord Bonomy is examining the efficiency of the High Court and will report later this year. Sheriff Principal John McInnes chairs a committee examining the whole structure of summary criminal justice with a view to efficient and effective deliver, and is expected to report in summer 2003.

  The efficiency of administration is one of the issues that will be examined in each review, although the recommendations are likely to range more widely, into structure, jurisdiction and other aspects of criminal procedure.

Land

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources will be made available to enable local authorities to carry out their regulatory responsibilities under the statutory regime of contaminated land.

Allan Wilson: A great deal of polluted land has been inherited from past generations when little or no consideration was given to the impact of our actions on the environment. Today’s announcement will help to address this legacy.

  We have allocated £4.5 million capital resources for 2002-03 to help local authorities carry out their statutory responsibilities under the contaminated land regime which came into force in July 2000.

  The regime provides the best solution to bringing polluted land back into productive use, especially in areas where commercial redevelopment is not likely to bring this about. Its main objective is to provide an improved system for the identification and remediation of contaminated land where the contamination is causing unacceptable risk to human health and the wider environment. By providing a vehicle for cleaning up contaminated land it will also facilitate the re-use of brownfield sites and promote the regeneration of urban areas.

  The funds will help local authorities to identify and investigate sites, take forward enforcement action and, in cases where they are unable to identify those responsible for the contamination, carry out remediation work at their own hand.

  Together with the resources we announced in February last year, over the three years 2000-01 to 2002-03 the Executive has made capital allocations totalling £9.7 million available to local authorities for work associated with addressing the problem of contaminated land.

  The distribution of capital allocations to local authorities is shown in the table.

  





Allocations for
2002-03
(£000) 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

65 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

68 
  



Angus 
  

92 
  



Argyll and Bute 
  

72 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

45 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

155 
  



Dundee City 
  

142 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

181 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

45 
  



East Lothian 
  

57 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

45 
  



Edinburgh (City of) 
  

181 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

72 
  



Falkirk 
  

114 
  



Fife 
  

266 
  



Glasgow City 
  

513 
  



Highland 
  

297 
  



Inverclyde 
  

56 
  



Midlothian 
  

125 
  



Moray 
  

45 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

181 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

580 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

45 
  



Perth and Kinross 
  

77 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

181 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

53 
  



Shetland 
  

0 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

66 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

251 
  



Stirling 
  

85 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

92 
  



West Lothian 
  

253 
  



Scotland Total 
  

4,500

Ministerial Visits

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the outcome was of the most recent visit to the north east by the Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning and related meetings and whether it will detail any action planned as a result of such a visit and meetings.

Lewis Macdonald: On 19 March, Wendy Alexander and I visited Kingswells Park & Ride site and met with representatives from NESTRANS, the north-east Scotland transport partnership. It was an extremely productive and useful meeting and will be followed up with meetings between officials over the coming year. NESTRANS was invited to proceed with modelling the traffic and impact of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and to come forward with a STAG appraisal by the end of the year to inform further discussion with ministers.

  Immediate action as a result of this meeting includes:

  The Executive to provide additional funding of £585,000 in 2002-03 from the Integrated Transport Fund to match fund Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils’ collective contributions for the further development and implementation of the Modern Transport System (MTS).

  The Executive to provide a further £600,000 in 2002-03 for Aberdeen City Council to take forward its Urban Realm project, to meet both its traffic reduction and development aspirations for the city and the wider north-east economy.

  The Executive to develop a free-standing Sub Area Model to determine the character of traffic in the north-east. The model will be used by NESTRANS to assess its MTS projects.

NHS Funding

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the First Minister how the additional NHS funding from the UK 2002 Budget will benefit people in Scotland.

Mr Jim Wallace: The additional resources become available from 2003-04; £3.2 billion over the next five years. By 2005-06 expenditure on health planned to be £8.6 billion rising to £10.2 billion by 2007-08.

  Detailed decisions on how best to invest the money will be announced in September following the outcome of the Spending Review.

Older People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to encourage exercise among older people.

Hugh Henry: The Physical Activity Task Force is producing a draft strategy which will be issued for consultation soon. It will include recommendations dealing specifically with the physical activity needs of older adults.

  NHS board health promotion departments and local authorities are also involved at local level in promoting physical activity for older people.

Police

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the First Minister what plans the Scottish Executive has to recruit additional police personnel.

Mr Jim Wallace: Chief Constables are responsible for the recruitment of police personnel. Police officer numbers in Scotland are at record levels. The Scottish Executive is committed to maintaining high police numbers and has provided an extra £24 million over the last three years specifically to boost recruitment.

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what commitments are made within the full development plan referred to at paragraph 31.1 of the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Limited for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock in respect of effecting a reduction in re-offending by prisoners after release.

Mr Jim Wallace: The plan includes commitment to address offending behaviour through programmes accredited by the Scottish Prison Service; to provide throughcare opportunities including work on drug and alcohol related problems, and for prisoners to have opportunities to gain employment skills.

Rail Network

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on proposals for a railway stop close to Edinburgh Airport.

Lewis Macdonald: Our study is progressing well. The consultants are now assessing demand for a number of feasible engineering options already identified for rail links to both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports.

Roads

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what systems are in place to ensure that (a) road maintenance contractors and (b) local authority departments clear up litter at the roadside and respond to litter complaints.

Lewis Macdonald: The trunk road operating companies, Amey Highways and BEAR Scotland Ltd, are contractually required to clear litter from motorways and special roads in accordance with the standards laid down in the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and the associated Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse. Under the act, responsibility for the clearance of litter from all other trunk roads rests with the local council through whose area the trunk road passes. The operating companies liaise with local councils to ensure that council policies meet with the requirements of the act. Local councils are also responsible for the clearance of litter from local roads.

  The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse sets out examples (by way of photographs) of the standards to be met in particular circumstances. It should be noted that the Environmental Protection Act 1990 allows litter levels to accumulate to certain grades before action needs to be taken. The operating companies then have various timescales to return the litter levels to acceptable standards.

  The Scottish Executive has appointed the Performance Audit Group to audit and monitor the activities and performance of the operating companies and this includes their litter clearing performance.

Schools

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it uses in assessing whether or not to agree to a local authority request to close a primary school when the decision has been referred to it because of the distance to the nearest available alternative school.

Nicol Stephen: We would consider each proposal on its individual merits. Account would be taken of all relevant considerations including educational and financial issues and the impact on the local community particularly in remote or rural areas.

Social Justice

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14024 by Jackie Baillie on 22 March 2001, whether it intends to commission research into poverty levels among those people who live outside of private households.

Iain Gray: We have no plans to do so. Household income is used as a proxy for standard of living when measuring income poverty. This does not apply to those living in institutions, and therefore they cannot be included in any estimates of the incidence of income poverty.

  However, low income is only one of a number of factors which determine whether or not people are in poverty or socially excluded. The Social Justice Annual Report presents 29 milestones which describe different aspects of poverty and exclusion and many of these cover people who live outwith private households.

Social Services

Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to address pressures currently facing the social care system.

Hugh Henry: Local authorities have been funded to a record level of over £1.3 billion in the current year and we are taking forward a range of measures to secure real and measurable improvements to social services.

Tartan Week

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what tangible benefits Scotland will gain as a result of this year’s Tartan Week in the United States of America.

Ms Patricia Ferguson: This year, Scottish ministers supported Tartan Week activities with a particular emphasis on promoting tourism to the US market, in a year that everyone recognises has been extremely difficult for the Scottish tourism industry. Tartan Week greatly increased Scotland’s profile both in New York and Washington. Scotland, and its diverse images, enjoyed substantial and positive media coverage both here and in the United States.